Drum assembly



March 13, 1969 E. KJELSTROM 3,433,115

DRUM ASSEMBLY Filed March 13, 1967 Sheet Z of.

54;; 0/1/111-24 fj/a/ianarf March 18, 1969 E. KJELSTROM 3,433,115

DRUM ASSEMBLY Filed March 13, 1967 Sheet i of 5 5/010 Eda Zak March 8; 1969 E. KJELSTROM 3,433,115

Filed March 13, 1967 DRUM ASSEMBLY Sheet 3 015 United States Patent 3,433,115 DRUM ASSEMBLY Elmer Kjelstrom, 8000 Reding Ave., Los Angeles, Calif.

90045; Leonard Taylor Kjelstrom, executor of said Elmer Kjelstrom, deceased Filed Mar. 13, 1967, Ser. No. 622,788

U.S. Cl. 84-411 17 Claims Int. Cl. Gd 13/ 02 ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE The invention is a relatively light drum set mounted on a collapsible support structure that permits the drum set to be dismantled into relatively small pieces for transportation and storage. A stanchion extending upward from a collapsible base structure carries at its upper end a support head which in itself is a percussion instrument and an array of drums is adjustably and removably mounted on this upper support head. The array of drums is stabilized by brace means extending downward to the collapsible base structure and both the stanchion and the brace means for extensible to different heights. The drums are provided with muffiers to convert the drum set quickly into a practice set and the mufilers are movable into and out of effective positions with a snap action.

Background of the invention Conventional drum sets of the type commonly used by professional bands are relatively heavy assemblies capable of high decibel outputs. There is a definite need, however, for a lighter drum set of about one-third the cost that is powerful enough to be used for novelty numbers by small groups such as trios.

There is also need for such a light drum and trap set that is versatile in the sense that it may be equipped with different percussion instruments interchangeably for conversion into a Latin American set or conversion to a bongo set. There is further need for such a versatile drum set that may be extended in height to serve as a cocktail set.

A light drum set of this type should be readily transportable and therefore capable of being dismantled into separate pieces for packing compactly into an ordinary snare drum case.

It is further desirable that such a drum set be readily convertible into an effectively muflled practice set.

The purpose of the present invention is to meet these various needs.

Summary of the invention The drum assembly includes a stanchion extending upward from a suitable base structure, a support head on the upper end of the stanchion with an array of drums mounted by radial arms on the support head. One feature of the invention is that the support head is in the form of a metal drum that in itself serves as an added percussion instrument. Suitable provision is made for varying the tonal qualities of the support head.

In the presently preferred embodiment of the invention, suitable brace means is included to stabilize the drums of the array. One such brace means extends dovmward from one of the radial arms of the array to the base structure of which the stanchion is mounted. Another brace means extends downward to the base structure from a stabilizing member that interconnects two drums of the array.

A feature of the invention is that both the stanchion and the brace means are extendible and different percussion instruments may be used interchangeably in the array. Thus a seated musician may adjust the height of the array of drums to his particular preference and if desired, the array may be extended in height and percussion instruments substituted to permit the assembly to be played by a standing musician. When the assembly is converted into a cocktail set, a cowbell is mounted on the support head and a pair of bongo drums is included in the array of drums.

The presently preferred embodiment of the invention further includes a bass drum supported at an intermediate height by the stanchion in cooperation with the base structure. A pedal operated mechanism for striking the bass drum is releasably attached to the base structure.

In the preferred embodiment of the invention, each of the drums is provided with a muffler that is movable with a snap action between a normal retracted position and an effective mufiling position. For this purpose each muffler comprises a mufile pad on an arm that is pivoted to the drum with a tension spring acting between the drum and the outer end of the arm. The arm may be manually moved past center with respect to the tension spring to cause the arm to snap either from its retracted position to its effective position or from its effective position to its retracted position. This provision makes it possible to convert the assembly into a practice set with a low decibel output. One drum also has a snare device mounted in the same manner to convert the drum into a snare drum Whenever desired.

Brief description of the drawings In the drawings, which are to be regarded as merely illustrative:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the presently preferred embodiment of the invention, the assembly including a bass drum, three tom-tom drums, a cymbal and a cowbell;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of an open carrying case into which all of the parts of the dismantled set may be placed for storage or transportation;

FIG. 3 is a plan view of the support head that is mounted at the top of the stanchion;

FIG. 4 is a diametrical section of the support head taken as indicated by the line 4-4 of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of one of the tom-tom drums as seen from below, the view showing a snap action mufiler attachment and the snap action snare attachment;

FIG. 6 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view taken as indicated by the lines 6-6 of FIG. 5; and

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of a Latin American set into which the assembly may be converted by substituted percussion instruments.

Description of the preferred embodiment Referring to FIG. 1, the principal parts of the selected embodiment of the invention include: a stanchion 10 extending upward from a base structure that is generally designated 12; a support head 14 on the upper end of the stanchion; and an array of percussion instruments carried by the support head, the array including a large tom-tom drum 15, a medium tom-tom drum 16, a small tom-tom drum 18, a cymbal 20 and a cowbell 22. In addition a bass drum 24 is operated by a striker arm 25 of a foot pedal mechanism 26.

The base structure 12 may be of any suitable construction but preferably comprises a collapsible tripod having three legs 28. The three legs 28 are connected by corresponding links 30 to a collar 32 that is slidable on the stanchion and may be releasably secured at adjusted positions by a thumb screw 34.

The stanchion 10 is extendible in length and may comprise the outer tube that is shown in FIG. 1, an inner tube (not shown) inside the outer tube and a rod 35 inside the inner tube. A fixed collar 36 on the upper end of the outer tube of the stanchion carries a manually operable angular screw 38 to releasably engage the inner tube and a similar collar 40 on the upper end of the inner tube carries a similar angular screw 42 to releasably engage the rod 35. As best shown in FIG. 4, the support head 14 may be removably mounted on the upper end of the rod 35 by a lower nut 44 and an upper wing nut 45.

The three tom-tom drums 15, 16 and 18 are mounted on the support head 14 by means of three corresponding radial rods 46, 48 and 50. As best shown in FIG. each of the three drums is mounted on the corresponding rod in an adjustable manner by a pair of nuts 52. The cymbal is mounted on the support head 14 by an angular rod 54 that extends through the cymbal in a loose manner with the cymbal resting on a collar 55. The cowbell 22 is mounted on a collar 56 which may be adjustably anchored on the angular rod 54 above the cymbal by means of a manually operable angular screw 57. The upper end of the angular rod 54 carries a circular muffle pad 58 that is adjustably secured by a thumb nut 60 so that, when desired, the parts may be adjusted with the muflie pad in contact with the cowbell 22.

The support head 14 may be of any suitable construction and the four radial rods 46, 48, 50 and 54 may be releasably and adjustably mounted in the support head in any suitable manner. In this particular embodiment of the invention, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the support head 14 may be in the form of a metal drum with an open bottom, the drum having an upper transverse wall 62 and a downwardly extending peripheral wall 64. Each of the four rods 46, 48, 50 and 54 extends through a corresponding aperture 65 in the peripheral wall 64 and extends into a radial tube 66. Each of the radial tubes 66 is welded to the peripheral wall 64 and is spaced slightly from the upper wall 62 to avoid interfering with the tonal qualities of the upper wall. The inner end of each of the four rods is releasably and adjustably secured in the corresponding radial tube 66 by a corresponding thumb screw 68.

The preferred embodiment of the invention includes suitable brace means to stabilize the array of percussion instruments that is mounted on the support head 14, each brace means being extensible in the same general manner as the stanchion 10 One such brace means comprises a tubular member 70 that is diametrically bored at its upper end to receive the radial rod 50. Telescoped into the tubular member 70 is a rod 72 that is releasably engaged by an angular screw 74. The lower end of the rod 72 is releasably connected to one of the legs 28 of the base structure by a U-shaped clamp 75 that is operable by a thumb nut 76.

A second brace means may comprise a similar tubular k member 78 that is diametrically bored at its upper end to receive a threaded cross rod 80. The upper end of the tubular member 70 is clamped between two nuts 82 on the cross rod 80, with one end of the cross rod clamped to the drum 16 by a similar pair of nuts 82 and the other end of the cross rod clamped to the drum 15 by a similar pair of nuts (not shown). An angular rod 84 is telescoped into the tubular member 78 and is adjustably engaged by an angular screw 85. The lower end of the angular rod 84 is releasably connected to one of the tripod legs 28 by a clamp 86 that is operable by a thumb screw 88.

The previously mentioned bass drum 24 may be mounted on the described support structure in any suitable manner. In this embodiment of the invention a slidable collar 90 on the stanchion 10 is adjustably anchored by an angular screw 92 and carries one end of an angular rod 94 with the second end of the angular rod rigidly secured to the bass drum 24. In addition a vertical rod 95 that is releasably connected to the bass drum extends downward therefrom to a clamp 96 on one of the tripod legs 28, the clamp being operable by a thumb screw 98. Each of the four drums 15, 16, 18 and 24 is provided with a mufiie pad which is mounted on the drum in the manner shown in FIG. 5. FIGS. 5 and 6 show the tomtom drum 15 mounted on the previously mentioned radial rod 46. A muffle pad 100 comprising a piece of foamed plastic 101 on a wood disk 102 is movable between an effective mufiiing position shown in solid lines in FIGS. 5 and 6 and a retracted position shown in dotted lines. The muffle pad 100 is mounted on the outer end of an arm 104 which, in turn, is mounted on a pivot pin 105 of a fixed bracket 106 inside the drum. A tension spring 108 extends from the outer end of the arm 104 to a pin 105 on the bracket 106.

If the arm 104 is moved downward from the position shown in FIG. 6 until it moves past center with respect to the tension spring 108 the tension spring will snap the arm 104 to the retracted position. In like manner, if the retracted arm 104 is swung in the opposite direction past center with respect to the tension spring 108, the tension spring will move the arm to its effective position with a snap action. It is apparent that it is a simple matter to snap all of the muffle pads from their retracted positions to their effective positions whenever it is desired to use the drum set for practice with a low decibel output.

The tom-tom drum 15 is also provided with a snare device 112 of a well known character which is mounted on the drum in the same general manner as the lmufile pad. Thus the snare device 112 is mounted on a pivoted arm 114 with a tension spring 115 extending from the outer end of the arm to a point of anchorage inside the drum. The arm 114 may be moved in one direction past center with respect to the spring 115 to snap the snare device into its effective position against the inner surface of the web of the drum or may be moved past center in the opposite direction to swing the snare device to the retracted position that is shown in solid lines in FIG. 5.

It is apparent from the foregoing description that the drum set may be dismantled into parts that are small enough to fit into a relatively small carrying case such as the carrying case designated 116 in FIG. '2. It is also apparent that the parts may be taken from the carrying case and rapidly assembled to provide the drum assembly shown in FIG. 1. It is also apparent that the stanchion 10 and the two braces may be extended to elevate the support head 14 and the array of percussion instruments carried thereby.

It is further apparent that different drums may be mounted interchangeably on the support head 14. For example, FIG. 7 shows how the drum set may be converted into a Latin American set. In FIG. 7, three drums 118, 119 and 120 are mounted on the support head 14 by corresponding rods 121, 122 and 123. A pair of bongo drums 124 on a bracket 125 is connected to the support head 14 by a fourth rod 126.

As best shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, the upper transverse wall of the support head 14 is provided with an aperture 128. When the drum set is converted into the Latin American set shown in FIG. 7, a short post is inserted into the aperture 128 and clamped therein by a pair of nuts 132 and the previously mentioned collar 56 that carries the cowbell 22 is mounted on this post in the manner shown in FIG. 7.

As heretofore stated, one of the features of the invention is that the support head 14 is also a percussion instrument that creates a pleasing sound when struck. A further feature of the invention is that means is provided to vary the sound when desired. For this purpose as shown in FIG. 4, at least one thumb screw 134 is threaded into a corresponding bracket 135 that is carried by the peripheral flange 64 of the support head. In FIG. 4 the thumb screw 134 is retracted out of contact with the transverse wall 62 of the support head. When it is desired to change the tone created by striking the support head 14, the thumb screw is tightened against the inner surface of the transverse wall 62 of the support head.

I claim:

1. In a drum assembly of the character described, the combination of a base structure;

an extendible stanchion extending upwardly from the base structure;

a support head at the upper end of the stanchion;

a plurality of arms extending in various directions from the support head; and

percussion instruments mounted on the support arms,

the support arms being adjustable for adjustment of the positions of the percussion instruments, being removable from the support head to permit dismantling of the assembly for storage and transportation.

2. A combination as set forth in claim 1 in which said support head is a metal percussion instrument.

3. A combination as set forth in claim 2 in which the support head is in the form of a metal disk with a peripheral downwardly extending cylindrical flange and which includes screw means adjustable for pressure contact with metal disk to vary the tone produced by striking the support head.

4. A combination as set forth in claim 1 in which said support head has radially positioned sockets;

in which said arms are rods that extend into the sockets; and

in which the sockets are provided with manually operable screws to releasably retain the rods therein.

5. A combination as set forth in claim 4 in which one of said rods is an angular rod with two arms, one of the two arms being mounted adjustably in one of said sockets, the other arm extending upward;

in which a cymbal is mounted on said upwardly extending arm; and

in which a cowbell is mounted on said upwardly extending arm above the cymbal.

6. A combination as set forth in claim 1 in which said base structure is a collapsible tripod structure.

7. A combination as set forth in claim 1 which includes at least one stabilizing brace for the percussion instruments on the support arms, the stabilizing brace extending downward to the base structure,

said brace means being extendible.

8. A combination as set forth in claim 7 in which said base structure is collapsible and said stanchion and brace means are collapsible.

9. A combination as set forth in claim 8 in which said base structure is a collapsible tripod.

10. A combination as set forth in claim 7 in which said stabilizing brace includes means interconnecting two percussion instruments on the support arms and means extending downward from said interconnecting means to said base structure.

11. A combination as set forth in claim 1 which includes:

a bass drum below the level of said support arms;

means extending laterally from the stanchion and cm operative means extending upward from the base structure to support the bass drum; and

a mechanism operated by a foot pedal to strike the bass drum, said mechanism being releasably attached to the base structure.

12. A combination as set forth in claim 1 in which said support head is in the form of a metal disk with a downwardly extending peripheral cylindrical flange to serve as a percussion instrument.

13. A combination as set forth in claim 12 which includes screw means mounted on the suipport head. for abutting the disk portion of the support head in a retractable manner to vary the tone emitted when the support head is struck.

14. A combination as set forth in claim 1 in which the percussion instruments include drums and in which muffle devices are mounted on the drums to permit the drums to be muffied for practice play,

each of said muffle devices including:

a mufile head;

a pivoted arm carrying the muffle head;

and a spring interconnecting the arm and the drum,

the arm being movable past center in one direction with respect to the spring to move the mutfie head to an effective position with a snap action and being movable past center in the opposite direction with respect to the spring to cause the mutfie head to be retracted from its effective position with a snap action.

15. A combination as set forth in claim 14 in which one of said percussion instruments is a drum and in which the drum is provided with:

a snare device;

a pivoted arm carrying the snare device;

and a spring acting between the arm and the drum, said arm being movable past center in one direction with respect to the spring to swing the snare device into an effective position with a snap action and being movable past center in the opposite direction with respect to the spring to swing the snare device from its effective position to a retracted position with a snap atcion.

16. The combination of:

a percussion instrument in the form of a drum;

an arm carrying said mulfle head and pivotally mounted on the drum; and

a tension spring interconnecting the arm and the drum, the arm being movable past center in one direction with respect to the spring to move the muffle head into an eifective position with a snap action and being movable past center in the opposite direction with respect to the spring to move the muflie head to a retracted position with a snap action.

17. A combination as set forth in claim 16 which further includes:

a snare attachment;

2. second arm pivotally mounted on the drum and carrying the snare attachment; and

a second spring interconnecting the second arm and the drum, said second arm being movable past center in one direction with respect to the second spring to swing the snare attachment to an effective position with a snap action and being movable past center in the opposite direction with respect to the second spring to swing the snare attachment to a retracted position with a snap action.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS RICHARD B. WILKINSON, Primary Examiner. GARY M. POLUMBUS, Assistant Examiner.

U.S. Cl. X.R. 84-415; 235-15024; 340-35, 41 

